


Clairvoyance

by dreamsofgods



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Haunted Houses, M/M, anyone thats dead was dead before the story began, but none of the characters that are alive in the story actually die at any point, discussions of death because.... ghosts, teacher!Louis, writer!harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-07-28 22:08:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7658569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsofgods/pseuds/dreamsofgods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haunted Apartment AU. </p>
<p>Moving to a new town for a teaching job he never wanted, Louis (unknowingly) takes up residence in a recently restored hospital-turned-apartment building far enough away from the rest of civilization that, really, it shouldn’t be allowed. But it's cheap, he’s desperate, and his new neighbour is a stunning, brown haired, green eyed twenty something with legs for miles and a smile that makes Louis’ heart skip a beat... so maybe he isn't complaining <i>too</i> much. But after an awkward first meeting, Louis vows to avoid his neighbour at all costs until he's jolted awake at 2AM the following night to loud, frantic banging on his front door and a terrified man on the other side rambling about a ghostly presence in his apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sandown Valley

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing fic since I was really young, so I'm a bit nervous. But I really wanted to write a Harry/Louis haunted apartment AU and I had some ideas... so here's the result! This _is_ a ghost story, so due to the nature of the story there will be discussions of death. Nothing graphic, but we are dealing with a haunted apartment that used to be an old hospital, so death is absolutely something that will frequently be mentioned. Outside of that, I hope you enjoy my take on Harry and Louis and how I think they'd act in a situation where one of their apartments ended up being haunted by a fairly restless ghost. So enjoy! And let me know what you think! I'll update as often as I can, I assume this will be about 5 chapters long. 
> 
> Further notes: Everything in this is fiction. The town, the city, and apartment building/hospital do not exist along with all of the characters except Harry and Louis (who are loosely based on the real people).
> 
> And you can follow me on [Tumblr](http://okayylewis.tumblr.com/) if you'd like!

* * *

_Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,_  
_Never should have called_  
_But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely._

\- _New Slang_ , The Shins

* * *

 

Louis was stressed. 

But that wasn't anything new, not recently at least.

He sighed as he backed his car out of his parking spot for the last time, pulling away from the building he'd become quite fond of over the years. Louis' apartment (or rather, his  _old_  apartment) was on the sixth floor and had a lovely view of the city and surrounding lake. It was just the right height to avoid both traffic and pedestrian noises from below while properly taking in the cool breeze from the nearby water. His landlady had been a kind, elderly woman with a gift for baking the best chocolate chip cookies Louis had ever eaten (though he would never admit that to his mum), and who'd been nothing but welcoming when he had moved in five years earlier.

Stonebridge was the city Louis had always dreamed of living in. He'd meet his friends at the local pub nearly everyday after work and they were regulars at weekly trivia nights – often winning, as Louis liked to remind everyone. And when he went for his coffee each morning the baristas at the nearby café had his order ready before he even stepped foot inside. Everyone in his neighbourhood seemed to know everyone else and there was never a shortage of parties, concerts, and other exciting events to attend nearly every night of the week. He had been so very happy here and, really, this whole moving situation was extremely unfair. He was bitter, and as far as he was concerned, his bitterness was more than justified.

He turned up [his music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYwCmcB0XMw) and began the long journey north. Away from the familiar comfort of his old life and up to, as far as he was concerned, the absolute middle of no where. The town, Sandown Valley, was about 4 hours from the city, through a large patch of woodlands and, as its name says, down in a valley. It might as well be on the other side of the planet, as far as Louis was concerned. He'd seen pictures before he had reluctantly agreed to the move, and he supposed it did look very pretty, though he would never admit that out loud. A major downside was that the town seemed to be fairly small, _much_ smaller than Stonebridge's 2 million population. 

Louis knew he was being slightly childish about the whole thing but frankly, he did not care. As he drove past all the places he'd grown to love he allowed himself the selfish feeling of not wanting to move to a town in the middle of the wilderness. He wanted his life in the city where he could go to a new restaurant every night and bar hop with his friends without the threat of bumping into any previous flings. Louis liked people and he liked being surrounded by the buzz of the big city. He hadn't even reached the city limits yet and he was already tempted to turn around and forget the whole thing. But there was, as he was _well_ aware, nothing at all to go back to. No job to go back to, at least.

Pulling onto the highway in his silver Kia Forte, he put his head back on the headrest and let out a long sigh. His job had been the single greatest part of living in Stonebridge. After majoring in Drama and Concurrent Education in university, Louis had landed an incredible position as a drama teacher at a local elementary school directly after graduation. He had taught primary and loved nothing more than interacting with the kids every day, teaching them all about acting and stage production, and most importantly helping them come out of their shells and learn how to work together to create something memorable and fun. Each year for the five years he worked at the school Louis had continued to alter and improve his curriculum, learning what worked and what didn't work right along with his students. It was his dream and it had come true so easily... almost too easily. Something nagging in the back of his mind always warned him that there would be a catch, that he received this job almost too quickly following his graduation. There was always a part of him that wondered when it would all start to go wrong. 

The answer to his fears was budget cuts. And when deciding if children needed science or drama as mandatory classes, his passion and hard work lost out to the sciences. He had tried appealing the decision, tried showing that his drama classes were important and that the children needed a balance of creative arts and sciences in their lives in order to become well rounded adults. Louis knew he was right, and he figured the school board knew he was right too, but it all came down to money. And money was something they simply did not have. The equipment in the lab classrooms were either broken or out of date and budget cuts made paying for the continuation of both the science classes and the funding of Louis' props, costumes, and set pieces impossible. And, most importantly, any chance of being able to pay his salary. He was more heartbroken than anything. He wanted to be mad and kick and shout but instead he holed himself up in his apartment (that he definitely could not afford without his teachers salary) for the weekend before dragging himself back to the school the following Monday to receive the official report regarding his fate with the school board.

It had been near the end of the school year, but Louis was told he could continue with the annual school play and wrap up the class he was currently teaching. However, once summer began he was officially out of a job. Louis had been adored by both teachers and students and they seemed just as upset to let him go as he had been to leave. And it was becuase of this excellent reputation that they offered Louis an option for the following school year. Up north, they told him, was a small town with a single school in need of an English Literature teacher.  _But I'm a drama teacher_ , he had said. The thought of teaching English Lit made Louis' skin crawl. He had nothing against literature, but he needed to be up and moving around, not sitting at the front of the class reading to his students. That sounded like a prison sentence. And if his inner monologue had been a tad overdramatic well... that's just who Louis is. 

He had accepted the job becuase he had no other option. Getting another teaching position in the city after all the budget cuts was out of the question, and he figured that any teaching job was better than no teaching job at all. But Louis was reasonably upset with the idea of leaving a place where he finally felt established. At twenty-eight years old he was now restarting his life in a town with one school, one church, one pub and absolutely no reasonable way to get back to civilization without committing an entire day (and entire tank of gas). The board had assured him that Sandown Valley really was beautiful and the school he would be working at had a great reputation despite its small enrolment of only 30 students. He knew he was likely offered the position becuase no one else wanted to move up there, especially young teachers that were far more interested in living in the city.

But here he was, leaving everything behind and driving north to teach _English Lit_  of all things. He had no idea how he was going to approach the curriculum, he'd barely read anything other than a play script for years, but he figured that part of him was up for the challenge. It was only late June so he had two months before the school year started up again in September -- plenty of time to visit the local library (thank god there was one) and find some appropriate material to go through with his new students. 

By the time he left the highway two hours into his drive and turned onto a two lane road going off into the woods, Louis allowed himself to feel a tad more optimistic. He had a job. He would still be teaching, despite it being a subject he did not feel passionate about, but at least he wasn't wiping tables at a shady pub to pay the bills. Sandown Valley  _did_ look beautiful from the pictures and maybe some fresh air outside of the city would do him some good. He had found a cheap apartment to stay in for the summer months (thankfully he had some savings put aside for an emergency) and he planned to upgrade to someplace nicer and a little more expensive when he started getting paid again. His new apartment had been advertised in one of Stonebridge's newspapers, enthusiastically endorsing a newly renovated building in Sandown Valley with fully furnished rooms at an almost horrendously cheap price. The ad only had a single black and white photograph of one of the bedrooms and a small description of the different apartments available. The rent was affordable and from the small photo it didn't look cockroach infested, so Louis emailed the landlord the following day. The apartment was officially his within 24 hours, making it the only 'easy' part of his move north.

_Everything's going to be okay_ , he thought as nighttime began its slow descent. This whole experience might be the peace and quiet Louis needs in his life, things had been so stressful for the last couple weeks and he really needed to start looking at this move (or at least the next two months before the school term started) as a bit of a vacation. He could get some work done on the play he's been meaning to write for the past three years and catch up on all the TV he'd been neglecting in favour of work. Everything really would be fine, he decided. Maybe this new chapter in his life, while unexpected, would be the best he's seen yet.

 

* * *

 

After another 2 hours of driving (and a quick stop at a particularly delicious chip truck), Louis finally arrived in Sandown Valley just in time to see the sun set over the surrounding hills. It really was stunning and as he drove slowly through the town centre he allowed himself a fleeting moment of excitement at the dramatic change in scenery. He pulled over in front of the local church, a small but pretty one room building nestled in the town's cemetery, and took out the piece of paper with his apartment building's address on it. Driving through he hadn't seen any large buildings... certainly not one as large as the ad had described. Confused, he took out his phone, waited for the shoddy signal to kick in, and looked up the address on the GPS. He let out an annoyed huff when he realized it wasn't quite as close to the town as he had thought. More specifically, the building was about a half hour away somewhere up in the hills he just watched the sun set over. Buckling his seatbelt back up, Louis pulled away from the church and headed towards the location on his GPS.

Something suddenly didn't feel right but he attributed it to driver's fatigue and the restless sleep he had the night before. Though he was a bit concerned that the ad didn't mention the far distance between the apartment building and the town, he was hoping to save some money walking to the school every day instead of using up the gas in his car. This was clearly no longer an option. It was his own fault, really, he should have looked more closely before he packed his bags and left in a rush the day after classes ended. This wasn't the first time Louis' emotions rushed him into a potentially unfortunate situation, and he was certain it wasn't the last. 

He tried to push back any feelings of dread as he spent the next 30 minutes driving up, up, up into the hills, the town disappearing into the darkness behind him. He rolled his windows down to take in the warm summer air while squinting ahead at the poorly lit road inconveniently surrounded by a dense forest of thick trees. Every time he made a slight turn he prayed that someone wasn't coming in the opposite direction becuase, really, who thought that putting an apartment building at the top of a steep, winding path in the middle a forest was a good idea? Just as he thought his blood pressure was going to spike, he came to a clearing in the woods. The ground levelled out and what waited for him at the top was not what he was expecting.

A long driveway led up to a impressively large brick building standing at four stories in height with a central tower stretching towards the sky. The structure was quite wide and covered a decent portion of the property that also contained numerous gardens, a parking lot, and an enormous lawn. From what he could tell from the few surrounding lights, the building looked undeniably old, likely from the nineteenth century, and completely out of Louis' price range. So why the hell was the rent so cheap? Was it the location?

He slowly drove his car up the drive (which felt like an additional 5 minutes) towards the side parking lot, starring suspiciously at the building looming in front of him. Despite the long drive to and from town, it _was_ a beautiful building and Louis was certainly interested in seeing the inside. But something was undeniably off and he still wasn't able to properly put his finger on it.

And that's when the question of what the building had been renovated from popped into Louis' head. It didn't look like a typical apartment... perhaps it was previously an old manor house? Or possibly a hotel? He concluded that this was likely the case before he parked his car and grabbed the couple bags he brought with him from the trunk. The rest of things would be arriving by an unfortunately pricey delivery truck the next morning, another spontaneous choice he had made that his wallet was currently judging him for.

He began walking towards the front door, feet crunching along the gravel walkway, trying to take in his surroundings through the small lights along the path. The front garden that ran along the walkway was well-kept and filled with beautiful red rose bushes. The lawn itself was also quite impressive; its green, lush grass looking like a good place to lay down with a script and a comfy blanket on a warm afternoon. All of it inviting while also containing a hint of... something. The entire property felt as ominous as the building in front of him, but there wasn't anything in particular making him feel this way.

_Everything is fine_ , he continued to repeat in his head, _you just need rest_.  

He reached the front entrance of the building, a series of 10 large white steps leading up to two thick wooden doors. The railing along the side was recently polished and slide delicately beneath Louis' hand as he slowly ascended the steps. He suddenly had the nagging feeling that he wasn't at the right building at all, until he reached the top of stairs and saw the buzzers for the individual apartments beside the main door and a pad for a passcode underneath. He fumbled in his pocked and pulled out the piece of paper with the apartment's address where he had also recorded the entrance code. Poking in 4-0-6-3 he heard the door click and he pushed it into the building.

Stepping inside Louis was greeted by a well lit and fairly spacious main entranceway with the unit mailboxes along both walls. Walking forward he paused momentarily in front of the grand staircase, gazing up as it spiraled to the floors above. The question of how he afforded to live in such a luxurious building crossed his mind again, the low monthly rent becoming increasingly more suspicious. He pushed the thought out of his mind and began to climb the steps to the fourth floor. 

As he climbed he checked the time on his phone. It read 9:42PM and Louis made a point of making as little noise as possible to avoid waking any early sleepers and making a bad first impression. Once he reached the fourth level, slightly out of breath (was their an elevator in this place? He sure hoped so), Louis walked towards the left wing where his new home awaited him.

The hallway had an odd feel to it. The renovations were fairly obvious, the thick coat of cream paint on the old walls and the lovely landscape paintings certainly spruced up what Louis assumed to be a building that required a lot of help in order to feel convincingly homely. There was just something about the way this building made him feel. Something wasn't quite right but he really had no way of explaining it. It was almost as if the building was actively pretending to be something that it wasn't. Louis assumed that this ominous feeling partially stemmed from how empty it felt, it was almost as if he was the only one here. But as the ad said, the entire place was renovated meaning all of the apartments were currently available to rent. So perhaps some of the other tenants hadn't moved in yet.

While he was pondering this thought one of the unit doors opened and Louis crashed directly into the exiting occupant. The man yelped and stumbled back as Louis stared at him in a daze. He realized at that moment that it had been about 5 hours since he had actually _seen_ another human being, even the town had been fairly deserted when he arrived. He stumbled forward to help the man balance himself up right and he was taken aback by the pair of green eyes that stared back at him.

How was it that he, Louis Tomlinson, managed to have his fate turned around by moving in next door to not only someone who appeared to be his own age, but to this particularly attractive, lean bodied, and bright eyed individual in front of him. The man adjusted his beanie and let out a nervous laugh.

"Shit, sorry mate, I didn't mean to run out at you like that... didn't think anyone else would even be out here this late." The stranger extended his hand to Louis, plastering a friendly smile on his face that made Louis entire body feel like it was melting into the floor. He really needed to sleep, his mind was starting to feel fuzzy. "'Names Harry, I just moved in," his hand continued to hang in front of Louis, "but I suppose we all just moved in so that's a shit way of introducing myself... anyways its nice to meet you--"

"L-Louis." He shook Harry's hand gingerly before retreating back. Why did his brain pick this very moment to be as awkward as possible? 

"Louis, great. It's really great to meet you, I figured I'd be the only person our age in this place. I haven't met any of the other residents yet myself but with the location and everything I don't know why anyone else under the age of 50 would be interested in a place like this." He glanced back at Louis and Louis continued to stare back. _Words, Tomlinson_ , he thought to himself, _put together a damn sentence and stop making a fool of yourself_. 

"Yeah, this is pretty much the last place I expected to ever find myself living..." _There you go, Louis_.  

"Why all the way up here? If you don't mind me asking. Sorry if that's intrusive---"

"No, not at all! I, um, I lost my job. Long story. And I was offered an alternative position up here. I figured I'd take it so that I could, you know, pay for food and avoid asking my mother for rent money. I'm really not sure what to think about the whole situation to be honest, this building is weird? And the town seemed almost deserted when I was driving through... At least it's pretty I suppose. But I'm more of a city-mouse so this whole thing is a bit of a culture shock to me." 

Harry nodded along enthusiastically as Louis spoke, "I know what you mean, though I think I'll be quite happy up here. I was a little apprehensive at first but I think a bit of peace and quiet will do me well. What job were you offered up here anyways?"

"Ugh. This ridiculous teaching position. I'm a drama teacher but I was let go becuase of funding issues... you know how it is." Louis sighed, "I was offered an English Literature position at the local school, I almost turned it down becuase who wants that right? Literally nothing could be more dull than talking about authors all day. I'm hoping to find inspiration this summer but, I'll be honest, authors are often so far up their own ass its going to be difficult forming some sort of curriculum around them without rolling my eyes the entire time." 

At that, Harry's shoulders sagged a bit. 

"So anyways, that's my sob story... what do you do?" Louis asked, noting the slight change in the other man's demeanor.

"I um, well... I'm an author." 

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

"I, uh, I didn't... what I was saying... I didn't mean like _ALL_ authors, I'm just ranting, of course I respect the craft and all... I write in my spare time quite often actually..." 

"No, of course, Louis, no harm done. It isn't exactly the most respected profession, I get that." 

"Right." Louis felt his face burn as his brain attempted to find the fastest way to exit the conversation. He was exhausted and he'd obviously unknowingly insulted Harry's profession and, what a great way to make friends on his first day in a new town.

"Anyways, I best be off. Evening stroll and all that. Nice meeting you, Louis." Harry smiled and walked around Louis down the hall and towards the staircase. Louis grabbed his bag, slung it back over his shoulder, and scurried off to his apartment, cursing himself along the way. He made a mental note to avoid Harry at all costs becuase... how embarrassing. Harry was _fit_ and Louis made himself look like a total ass. 

He shook of the feeling of complete and total embarrassment when he finally reached his apartment, only a small stretch of the hallway down from Harry's. He fumbled for the key in his pocket and put it into the keyhole, admiring the wood trim framing the large red door. Pushing it open he stepped inside, placed his bags down, and felt around the wall for the light switch. Once the light was turned on and he took in the entirety of the space in front of him, Louis found himself questioning _once again_ how he was able to afford living somewhere like this.

The front foyer led to an enormous living room with three grand windows that looked out onto the front lawn. The room was furnished with a giant couch and love seat and, to Louis' surprise, a 40" television set. The kitchen was also magnificent, entirely brand new, and it even had one of those fancy fridges that filtered water and dispensed its own ice, which had Louis cheering internally. The dining room was a separate space with a small but lovely chandelier hanging over a table big enough for six. There was one bathroom with a large bathtub and shower as well as an enormous single bedroom that rivaled the size of the living room. And in the middle of the bedroom was one of the biggest and most inviting beds Louis had ever laid eyes on. He jumped up on the bed and bounce-tested the mattress before letting himself fall backwards. The advertisement never said anything about the apartment being furnished to _this_ extent. The entire place was reminiscent of a five star hotel. Louis had planned on scavenging for furniture at local garage sales or flee markets over the next few days, but obviously that wasn't necessary. Even his bed had sheets, pillows, and a giant burgundy duvet to match the dark but regal colour scheme of the entire apartment. 

Louis had really hit the jackpot. He lifted himself off the bed and walked towards the large double window overlooking the side of the house. His apartment was right on the corner of the building so he had a really stunning view of the property. He was thankful for the natural light that he would be getting during the day from all of the windows. Still, he missed the city and his old home, especially the familiarity of his day-to-day. Here, Louis felt out of place and uncertain. A friendship with Harry would have helped if he hadn't made a complete fool of himself, but maybe tomorrow would bring new opportunity to make some friendly acquaintances when he went into town to stock up his completely empty fridge.

He yawned, walked over to his bags to grab his pyjama bottoms, and changed out of his gross travel clothes before climbing into the bed. Slipping under the covers he felt like he was sinking right into a cloud. He wasn't sure if he was over-exaggerating or not from exhaustion, but it truly felt like the most comfortable bed he'd ever slept in. He thought of calling his mum or texting his friends to let him know he had made it, but sleep was quickly taking over.

Sighing contently, he flicked off the light beside his bed and closed his eyes.

Outside of his interaction with Harry and the nagging feeling of discomfort he couldn't seem to shake, this building was almost too good to be true.

And deep down Louis couldn't help but feel highly suspicious of it all.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a couple quick notes for this chapter: 
> 
> I do not own the photos at the beginning, so if you are the owner and you want them taken down, please message me and I will do so right away! While the story takes place in an imaginary town, the two buildings in the photos are of Old St. Mary's Hospital in Evansville, Indiana and Sycamore Chapel which was in Greenville, Indiana. 
> 
> And most importantly, thank you for reading! I am working on the next chapter now so I'll post it as soon as I can. :)


	2. The Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis explores the town, meets some new people, and has an unsettling second encounter with Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the middle of a move but I was desperate to get this up today after working through it for the past week. So here's Chapter 2, thanks for your patience and lovely messages! Feel free to follow/message me on [Tumblr](http://okayylewis.tumblr.com/). Enjoy! x

Louis woke up the following morning to the sun beaming through his window and his body tingling from a good night's sleep. He smiled and rolled on his side, watching the clouds dance across the bright blue sky outside his window. The distant sound of the wind lightly blowing through the old pine trees felt like lullaby trying to lull him back to sleep. It was all very cliché and it made Louis’ entire body feel a million pounds lighter. He had fallen asleep filled with growing dread and concern, but his dreams had been relatively kind to him. He partially thanked the quality of the bed.

Louis stretched out dramatically, letting all of his joints pop and twist before sinking back into the mattress. He reflected on the previous day's events: the drive up to Sandown Valley, his thorough confusion with the apartment building's location, his initial (and continued) shock once he arrived at the top of the hill, his awkward run in with Harry... the latter of which he'd rather not dwell on at the moment.

Despite the undeniable comfort of his bed Louis decided that he would spend the morning getting to know the small town at the bottom of the hill, hoping to squash the endless worry that continued to sit at the back of his mind. Even after his peaceful slumber he still couldn’t shake his suspicion that something wasn’t right. And it wasn’t just Harry, he was almost certain it had something to do with the building itself. He hoped that spending some time in the town and gaining some familiarity with his surroundings would help him feel less on edge. In the afternoon when the moving truck arrived with his things, he could spend a few hours doing a bit of decorating as a form of self-therapy. As beautiful as his apartment was, it didn't feel at all like  _him_ and he was really looking forward to fixing that. 

Louis rolled lazily towards his end table and grabbed his phone. He thumbed through various text messages from his mother and friends back home, selecting a few to answer before his growling stomach won the battle of getting him out of bed.

Washing up and throwing on a comfy sweater and pair of jeans, Louis walked towards his kitchen and opened the fridge. An empty white abyss stared back at him and he sighed, remembering he hadn’t bought groceries the day before. He took one last look around his apartment before grabbing his jacket and heading out the door.

He left in a hurry, scurrying past Harry's door and down the stairs, avoiding the risk of entering another unnecessarily awkward interaction with his new neighbour. He left the building and walked to his car, noting the questionably empty parking lot, and pulled out of the driveway before proceeding back down the hill to the town below. While still dense, the forest on the hill was much less threatening and the road not nearly as unreasonable as it was when he arrived the previous evening. And once he arrived in the town it felt much more lively and less deserted than it had been when he drove through last night. People were out and about, possibly going to work or running errands. He passed by some children riding their bikes down the street and he smiled and waved, assuming they were likely his future students. The immense tension Louis had felt the night before left him quickly as he came to the realization that Sandown Valley was a fairly normal, fully functioning small town with a variety of shops, small neighbourhoods of old but well-kept homes, and friendly faces populating the streets. 

He drove around for about 15 minutes, noting the locations of the pharmacy, doctor’s office, town hall, gym, and various other essentials. To his delight, a small playhouse was located in the downtown area, an advertisement for a local production of Rocky Horror at the end of the summer displayed on a banner over the front door.

 _Maybe this place won’t be too bad_ , he thought as he continued his self-guided tour.

Turning another corner he found the school and his future employer, Sandown Valley Elementary, tucked into the forest at the edge of the town. He pulled into the empty parking lot and exited his car, interested in poking around a bit despite the building being locked up for the summer. It was a small building, but appeared to be fully equipped with a reasonably sized library and gymnasium. Louis peaked in the windows, fully acknowledging how creepy this probably looked to anyone driving by, and saw small but brightly decorated classrooms with a few rows of desks and student art plastering the walls. From what he could see, there were about 4 classrooms of varying sizes, all equipped for less than 30 students. He liked that all of the classes didn’t take place in a single classroom as he had previous suspected. How they structured classes in a school this small was beyond him. But he was definitely happy that he wasn’t stuck working with the high school students who were located in another building (somewhere unknown to Louis) in another part of town. He loved kids, but working with angsty teenagers was a territory he was unwilling to explore.

He turned to walk back to his car at the same time a women around Louis’ age exited the front of the building. She eyed him distrustingly and Louis offered a smile as she cautiously approached, hoping that he didn’t look like a dirty peeping tom snooping around an elementary school.

“Um… can I help you?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously. Obviously he’d failed at that.

“Hi I’m Louis," He took a few cautious steps towards her, "I’m starting work here in the fall and I was just curious about the building.”

“Oh, Louis! Of course, I’m so sorry. You see an unknown adult lurking around a school and your mind jumps in a certain direction…” She laughed, flipping her long blond hair over her shoulder, “But anyways, it’s lovely to meet you. I’m Abigail, or Abby if you’d like. The principal told us all about you after your phone interview a few weeks back. We’re all really excited to have you here. But I didn’t think you’d be arriving so early?”

“Yeah I suppose it wasn’t the original plan, but my landlady was able to get a tenant for my old apartment earlier than expected so I figured I might as well move up and get to know the town before the school year began.”

This was a partial lie. His landlady did find someone to move in early, but Louis knew the real reason he left early was a mixture of bitterness and hopelessness. But in this instance he opted for a more positive spin on his experience from these past few months.

“Sounds like a solid plan. Listen, I have to head to an appointment but let’s meet up sometime, maybe next week? I’d love to give you a tour of school and we can grab coffee or something afterwards. What’s your number?” She opened her purse and reached around for her phone.

He gave her his number, happy to have made an acquaintance, and they parted ways with promises of meeting up the following week.

Walking back to his car, Louis took one more look at the school.

 _This will be fine_ , he thought,  _everything will be fine_.

 

* * *

 

 

He cut the rest of his tour short, his stomach threatening to devour itself if he didn’t eat as soon as possible. It was almost noon anyways and the moving truck would be arriving within the next couple hours.

Louis parked and walked towards a small red building near the foot of the hill and pushed through the door marked 'Town Grocers'. A bell dinged when he stepped inside and an elderly man, likely in his 70s, smiled at him from the front counter. 

"Lovely morning!" The man greeted Louis.

"Yes, it’s beautiful." Louis smiled and grabbed a shopping cart before making his way through the various isles, a few other shoppers puttering around alongside him.

He felt the man's eyes follow him curiously as he grabbed eggs, crackers, bread, chicken, a package of candy bars, and numerous other kitchen stocking supplies. 

After doing a couple laps around the store, Louis approached the man at the front checkout and began piling his items onto the conveyer belt.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" The man asked once Louis had emptied his cart.

"I am yes, just moved in last night. Needed to grab some food before I starved to death."

The man laughed, "Now we can't have that, can we? My name's Martin, I run the store with my wife Marcy, she's around here someplace. We've lived here our whole lives, so I knew the moment I saw you that you were new." He winked and Louis smiled back.

"I'm from Stonebridge, actually. I moved up here for work." 

"Stonebridge! I thought you had a city-boy look about you. Now why on earth would you move up here for work? I hope you found a job before you came because I don't know of anyone hiring..."

"Oh I have, nothing to worry about. I'm teaching English Literature at the elementary school come September. I was a teacher in the city and lost my job to some cutbacks... but luckily a teaching position was offered here so I was more than happy to take it." 

Martin smiled as he struggled to pull the bag over the chicken’s plastic container, "That’s a great school, lovely kids in this town. They’ve been looking for a new teaching for a while now, it isn’t too often that you’ll find someone qualified that wants to move all the way up here.” He finally got the chicken in the bag and began with the smaller items. “Where are you staying?"

"I'm staying up on the hill, at the new building they just renovated." 

"You're staying at Serenity Hill?" Martin abandoned bagging Louis’ food and gave him an apprehensive, almost concerned look.

"Serenity Hill? I've... is that the name of building? I've never actually heard it called anything befo---" 

A woman came up beside Louis then who he could only assume was Martin's wife Marcy. He took his eyes off of Martin, who continued to look at Louis with a slight sense of bewilderment, and turned his attention to his wife. She stood about a foot shorter than Louis with a head of large curly white hair and a kind, gentle face that made Louis almost forget the tense conversation he had been apart of so suddenly.

"I'm Marcy. I saw you chatting with my husband and I figured I'd come and say hello! You are new in town I presume?"

"It's lovely to meet you Marcy, I'm Louis." He glanced back cautiously at Martin who continued to eyeball him with a look on his face that Louis had trouble properly placing. "I just moved here from Stonebridge, I have a job at the school in September."

"That's wonderful, always nice to have a new friendly face as an addition to our town. Have you been able to find living accommodations?"

"I have actually up at---"

"Serenity Hill." Martin answered before Louis was able to finish.

Marcy looked quickly from Louis to her husband, "Serenity Hill... oh, that's... that sounds real nice. I hear they've fixed the place up good." This time her smile failed to reach her eyes. Louis felt tremendously uncomfortable as Martin and Marcy stared at him as if waiting for him to say something else but... Louis really had no idea where to take the conversation from here. 

"Uh.. anyways, I really should be getting back. I have to meet the moving truck in a couple hours and I want to be sure I've eaten something before then so..." 

As if under some sort of spell, Martin snapped out of his trance and began scanning Louis' items again. "Of course! Don't want to keep you..."

Marcy took her leave then, wishing Louis luck with his unpacking as Martin started to bag his groceries. No more words were exchanged between Louis and Martin until he was about to leave. 

"You be careful up there, son." Martin said after Louis had paid. "Because you know... it is up in the woods and all. Just be aware of your surroundings, it's different living in the woods than it is in the city."

Louis nodded, a little unsure what Martin really meant by that, and grabbed his bags. "Thank you sir, it was nice talking to you. I'll see you around.” He smiled and scurried out of the store, walking quickly to his car and throwing his groceries in the back seat. He had already made the decision to abandon any further exploration of the town today, entirely thrown off by the odd reaction Martin and Marcy had had to, what had they called it? Serenity Hill? Is that really what the building was called? Why hadn't he heard of this until now? 

As he pulled onto the main road and headed back towards the hill, Louis briefly wondered if they had mistaken his building for another one. But he found it unlikely that two large buildings on the hill near the town had been renovated at the same time.

When he came home he made an enormous chicken sandwich and salad, desperate to rid himself of the hunger pains he had been nursing for the past couple hours. The moving truck arrived in the early afternoon and Louis spent the rest of the day unpacking and redecorating his apartment.

The name ‘Serenity Hill’ occasionally danced in his mind and he was tempted to do a little poking around online to see what he could find, but he squashed his curiosity in favour of watching a movie instead. Louis suspected he wouldn’t like what he found if he started looking into the history of this building and he was too exhausted from his day to put any more energy into worrying about it.

He let his mind momentarily wander to Harry. Despite the many trips up and down the stairs with the guys from the moving company, he hadn’t spotted the man at all today. Louis wondered what Harry did to keep himself busy and if he left his apartment at all or if he wasn’t as eager to explore as Louis had been. He wished the previous night had gone somewhat differently, having a neighbour to bother for company would have been a silver lining to the whole situation. He figured he would make an attempt to talk with him again tomorrow. Louis had been scolding himself for the whole interaction off and on the entire day, but really it hadn’t been  _that_  bad. Harry probably forgot about the whole thing. He briefly considered sucking it up and walking over to Harry’s apartment now, before he realized that it was almost midnight and that was definitely not a good time to make amends.

 _Maybe tomorrow_ , he thought as he turned his television and lights off before walking to his bedroom and sliding into his bed.  _Maybe tomorrow I’ll see Harry again._

 

* * *

 

 

Suddenly Louis was in a cold, damp building and he was running, fast. Was he in a school? He wasn’t sure. But he was late for something, probably for class, what was this place? Maybe he was meant to meet someone, why was it so dark? All he knew, all he remembered, was running. And the banging. Why was there so much banging? It was constant and so LOUD. Louis ran and ran, no longer running towards something, only trying to outrun the banging. His head was pounding, the noise was getting closer and closer and ---

Louis gasped and woke with a start, shooting upright in bed and staring wide-eyed into the darkness of his room. The banging in his head continued, his ears ringing as he reached over to the end table to grab his phone and check the time. 3:15AM shone up at him, blinding him in the darkness. He groaned, willing the banging in his head to go away.

It only took him a moment of laying semi-conscious in the dark to realize the sound wasn't coming from the inside of his head at all, but was someone pounding frantically on his front door.

He hesitated before slipping out of bed, quickly pulling on a discarded t-shirt, and slowly walking out of his bedroom and to the front door. The banging continued as Louis peered through the peephole only to see...

"Harry?" He quickly opened the door, the taller man falling into his apartment, rushing past Louis and into his living room. Louis poked his head out of his apartment quickly to see if someone else was there, but the hallway was completely empty. Confused, Louis closed and locked the door before turning to confront Harry.

"Harry, what the hell? What's going on? It's quarter after three in the morning. Are you in some kind of trouble or…?" He stepped into the living room and saw that Harry looked absolutely terrified of... something. Despite his numerous questions and growing concern, Harry remained silent, attempting to catch his breath while running his hands through his messy hair. 

Louis slowly sat down on the couch, afraid of startling Harry further, and patted at the spot next to him. "Can you please just.. just sit down, Harry. Tell me what happened? You're scaring the shit out of me like, should I be calling the cops?" 

He was met with brief silence and then, "No, no... I'm so sorry, Louis. I just..." Harry looked like he was about to cry. Louis had never been more confused in his entire life. Was this some kind of joke? 

"Harry, please. Please tell me what's wrong. I seriously don't know what to think right now. You need to talk to me. I’m barely awake as it is and… just sit." 

Harry finally sat down on the couch, folding himself over and resting his head on his knees. He inhaled a shaky breath, exhaled slowly, and sat up facing Louis.

"There was someone in my apartment." 

"Like... someone you know?" 

Harry let out a short, humourless laugh. "No. Not someone I know."

"Well seriously, we need to call the police." Louis went to stand up, intent on retrieving his cellphone from his bedroom, but Harry quickly grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him back down on the couch.

"No, it's not like that Louis. I'm sorry, just give me a second." He let go of his wrist and sunk back down into the couch. "I'm just a bit... a bit shaken up." 

Louis' confusion only grew.

"How about I grab you a glass of water from the kitchen, and when I come back you can tell me what happened?" 

"Okay... sure. Thank you, Louis." 

Louis nodded and glanced once more at Harry before walking to the kitchen. He opened the cupboards, retrieved a glass, and filled it with ice and water from the fridge. He took his time, ensuring that Harry had a few minutes to recover. But seconds later Harry appeared in the kitchen, entering slowly and propping himself up against the furthest wall. 

"Sorry, I... um... was a bit nervous being by myself in there." 

"Oh uh, that's fine? Here's some water. Do you want to go back in there and have a chat then? I'll stay with you." 

Harry nodded, looking a mixture of both ashamed and frightened, before turning back towards the living room. Harry sat back down in the same spot on the couch, but Louis opted for the love seat, hoping to give Harry the space he likely needed.

"So, are you ready to talk?" 

"Yes, um," Harry took a deep breath before continuing, eyes fixed on the ground instead of Louis, "I was sleeping and something woke me up. I have no idea what it was but, once I woke up all I could smell was... you know when you blow birthday candles out? My entire bedroom smelt that like. I was confused so I went to turn the light on, but before I could I realized someone else was in my room."

His eyes momentarily flickered to Louis and then back down to the ground again.

"I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me or that I was still asleep. But there was someone standing at the foot of my bed. They were facing the window, not looking at me. The smell was so strong and suddenly it morphed into the smell of smoke. Like… it smelt like my entire room was on fire. The person, I’m certain it was a man, kept standing there. I worked myself up enough to move to turn my lamp on, but the second I took my eyes off of him I heard a quick rustle and when I looked back he was standing directly beside my bed, still looking out the window, his back completely to me. My light was still out at this point and I was terrified to move again so I just sat there. I sat there for what felt like years and years. He was deadly still, just staring out the window as if I wasn't lying in the bed behind him freaking the fuck out. I was afraid to breath, Louis, like I literally just sat there for what felt like an eternity. And then..."

Harry shuddered slightly and began picking at a small hole in the knee of his pyjama bottoms. "God, this is insane. Saying this all out loud... this isn't right, Louis. None of this is right."

"Harry what happened, please. You need to tell me everything that happened." Louis stood up and moved over to sit closer to Harry on the couch. He wasn’t entirely sure he believed what Harry was telling him, but what concerned him was that Harry was obviously frightened by  _something_. 

"Well, he… started to move, but like. Not normal, human movements. At first it was a slow sway, left to right. His upper body was moving but his legs were almost pinned to the ground. His movements were so jerky and it looked... it didn't look human. It started off slow and got more and more violent and frantic. Just swaying side to side, still facing the window. I was so confused I just sat there watching until he started to make this... horrible guttural sound, like a gut-wrenching sob. I couldn't just sit there any longer. I slowly pulled my duvet off and went to get off the bed without turning my back to him. The bed must have creaked because he suddenly stopped moving. I sat there with one foot on the floor just staring at the back of his head. Then out of no where he dropped to the floor like a rag doll. It was when I heard him shuffle underneath my bed that I ran out of the room, out of my apartment, and came over here. Thank God you heard me, Louis. I've never been so scared in my life." At that, Harry's voice cracked and his eyes started tearing up. "I'm so sorry, I just... what the fuck." 

 _What the fuck, indeed_... Louis literally had no idea what to say. He sat there, mouth open, staring at a teary-eyed Harry on his couch, torn between believing what Harry was telling him and calling the cops on the man that apparently broke into Harry's apartment and successfully scared the shit out of him.

"Harry, what makes you think this wasn't a person? I really think we should call the cops, this must be some kind of prank---"

"No, Louis, listen to me. Please." He wiped his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned fully to face Louis. "You don't understand, you don't understand what I  _saw_. What I saw in my room was not human, I don't know what it was. But I don't want to call the police, they're going to think I've lost my mind. And honestly, I'm starting to wonder if I have."

They sat silently staring at one another for a few moments, neither sure what they were meant to do about the situation and it was... late. Louis was exhausted, and by the looks of it, Harry was clearly tired himself.

"Harry, I believe you think you saw what you saw. But there really must be a reasonable explanation for it. Do you want me to go over to your apartment and check it out for you?" He regretted the offer as soon as it came out of his mouth, if someone really had broken into Harry's apartment Louis was certainly not physically equipped to take such a person down. 

"No, please don't. Let's just... can I stay here tonight? I'm sorry this has happened, I was hoping the next time we talked would be under entirely different circumstances. And I know what you must be thinking about me right now, and I swear this has never happened before. And I promise you that I've never been more certain of something I've seen in my life. I couldn't make this up if I tried, I'm not even a horror author, I write fluffy, vanilla romance for fucks sake." He let out a huff and glanced towards the window and away from Louis' continually confused gaze. Louis really did feel bad for him. Something had gone wrong, a particularly bad nightmare seemed to be the only reasonable explanation. But pointing this out was obviously not going to help the situation any. They both needed to sleep the whole thing off. 

"Of course you can stay, I have extra blankets and pillows in the hallway closet and this couch pulls out into a bed." Louis went to stand up when he suddenly realized something: "Harry, did you lock your front door when you left?"

Harry slowly shook his head. Great. "Do you have your keys with you by any chance?"

Harry sighed, "No, I didn't think to grab them on the way out. Louis its fine, the building isn't even at half capacity, no one is going to go in there. And I would rather not go back in there myself right now."

Well that’s curious. "Is the building really that empty still?"

"Yeah, I heard they're having trouble finding tenants for all the apartments."

"Who told you that?" Louis had assumed other tenants would still be moving in over the next few days.

"I heard it from Mrs. Thomas, she lives on the first floor. Moved in with her husband the morning that you moved in. But I don't know where she heard it from."

Louis crinkled his face and stood up from the sofa. Nothing was adding up. Harry's experience this evening was... bizarre. And why weren't people jumping at the chance of living somewhere like this for so cheap? Was it the location, or was it something else entirely? He was starting to suspect the latter but he didn't want to entertain the idea at the moment. His head was pounding and something in the back of his mind was telling him to get out while he could. But what choice did he have? 

He looked back down at Harry, "I'm just grabbing the blankets and pillows out of the closet. Are you okay here for a minute?"

"Yeah, thanks Louis." 

Louis nodded and walked back towards the front hallway. Before opening the closet he walked to his front door, hesitating before peering through the peephole into the hallway. He looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He leaned back, jiggled the doorknob to ensure it was locked and checked the chain on the door before turning back to the closet. He pulled out a pillow and two blankets, an extra comforter, and a lovely afghan his mother had knit for him for his dorm room during his first year of university. It had brought him a lot of comfort during his studies; hopefully it would do the same for Harry tonight. Checking the peephole one last time, Louis turned back to the living to find Harry sitting in the same spot, staring ahead blankly at the wall. 

"Harry?" 

The man jumped slightly and turned to look up at Louis with a small, exhausted smile. "Sorry, I guess I'm just more tired than I'd thought."

Louis offered a sympathetic smile in return, "I think we both are." 

He put the pillows and blankets against the wall and helped Harry pull the couch out into a bed. Harry continued to look distraught, so Louis figured a change in pre-bedtime conversation was in order, "is your apartment as furnished as mine?" 

Harry turned his head to look around a bit, "yeah, it is. Kind of weird, isn't it? I've rented rooms that have been furnished with shitty, old furniture... but an entire apartment? I've never even heard of that happening before." 

"That's exactly what I've been thinking," Louis said as he picked the blanket and pillows up off the floor and handed them to Harry. 

"Mine doesn't look like this though, it's blue instead of maroon, but the layout is pretty similar." He pointed to the hallway, "I assume that leads to your bedroom?" 

"Yep, one bedroom, and a bathroom is back there as well." 

"Almost identical to mine then. The only difference is the kitchen is a bit larger and the living room a bit smaller. Which was convenient for me since I spend a decent amount of time cooking."

Harry's voice sounded steady while they slowly put the bed together, but the level of anxiety radiating off of him and was doing nothing for Louis' peace of mind. 

"I'm going to be honest, Harry. Tonight has officially freaked me out and there is no way I'm going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon. Do you want to watch something? I have Netflix on my PS4 and you can pick whatever you want... ideally a comedy." 

"Really? That'd be great actually." He sat down on the bed and curled up into himself again, "I really am sorry, Louis. I sincerely don't know what happened in there and I know you must think I'm completely out of my mind but... I'm an extremely logical person but I can't think of a logical reason that explains what happened. I thought maybe I was dreaming but I was awake for so long watching it that---"

"Harry. Let's just..." Louis turned on the TV and tossed the controller to Harry, "…try and take our minds off of it or we will literally never get to sleep. We'll talk about it more in the morning, ideally when its bright and sunny outside and not," he glanced at the clock on the wall, "3:45 in the morning." 

Harry smiled and took the controller, scrolling directly to the 'comedy' section and selecting Friends without a second thought. 

"Good choice, my go-to whenever I'm in need of a pick-me-up." 

"Me too, it's also good background noise when I'm cleaning or cooking at night." Harry scrolled through the episodes and picked one at random. Joey, Chandler, Monica, and Phoebe appeared on the screen in Central Perk, the women watching on as Joey attempted to (poorly) do a magic trick for Chandler. 

Louis sat down on the love seat, adjusting his body at the awkward angle, mentally noting that he might need to rearrange the furniture a bit so that the love seat faced the TV better. Harry let out a laugh from the bed, "you can sit here with me, you know. I know it's a  _bed_  right now but, as we both know, it was a couch literal minutes ago. We're allowed to sit on it together." 

Louis blushed, "no it isn't... I just figured you'd want your space is all."

Harry laughed again, sounding a bit like how Louis assumed he would be normally, "is this because you decided to insult my line of work the other night? That very personal attack cut me awful deep, Louis, but I understand you not wanting to sit too closely to one of those, how did you put it... 'authors who are so far up their own ass'."

Harry winked and Louis sat (slightly contorted) in the love seat, waiting for the floor to open up and swallow him.

"I'm just kidding, oh my god. Seriously, get over here, that looks incredibly uncomfortable." 

Louis got up and walked towards the bed, "Harry I'm so so sorry, you have no idea how mortified I was. I seriously spent yesterday hoping I wouldn't bump into you because I felt so terrible. I honestly meant nothing by it, I was just frustrated and tired--"

"Louis. Seriously. I was kidding, please just sit, watch Friends, and help me forget that I'm either having a complete breakdown or that I've experienced some sort of unasked for paranormal experience."

Both of those options sounded unfavourable, but further analysis of the situation could be saved for the morning. He sat down on the bed, a safe distance away from Harry, and got comfortable. He was scared. Harry was scared. But it was alright because in that moment they had each other. They sat in silence, occasionally giggling at the television for 3 -- or was it 4 episodes? Louis couldn't remember because before he knew it he had fallen asleep, unintentionally, next to Harry. 


End file.
